In the last post I was saying I bulk bought Heat Logs at B&Q. We also never waste wood. If we buy some when we’re camping and don’t use it all, we take it home and squirrel it away to use another time!
But I don’t have a lot of space at home, so where to keep it? Well, here’s where it’s lived very happily all through the winter:
An ordinary black dustbin! Our council moved over to using wheelie bins, so my old bin was going spare.
It doesn’t look so pretty , but the flowers help a bit!
L
A good fire is very important. Especially if cooking your dinner relies on a getting a good blaze going. Dinner is also VERY important!
Usually when we go to a campsite we buy whatever wood they sell us. Indeed some campsites insist that you burn their wood. But as you’ll have seen on our campsite reviews not all the sites sell good wood. Sometimes it smoulders and smokes rather than burning nicely, I guess because it hasn’t been seasoned long enough and isn’t properly dry.
We’ve tried various different other types of fire fuel – including ones made out of coffee grounds and made out of newspapers. However, our favourites are these:
According to the packet they are made from recycled sawdust and shavings, which are dried and then tightly packed together after being compressed at high temperatures. No additives or chemicals – just compressed wood.
You buy them in B&Q. Well, when they are in stock, which seemed to be pretty much never last year!! This year I saw them sitting there before lockdown and although I had no plans for camping or fires I bought a couple of packs, just because I could!
They always burn nicely and are a good to suppliment any substandard wood you’re made to buy! Not only are they very dry, meaning they light easily and aren’t too smokey, but they are designed with a hole through the middle, which lets the air through, getting a good blaze going.
They are also a good size for putting on top of the dutch ovens for when I’m using them for baking. Previously I used charcoal briquettes for this, as in the picture below, but that didn’t last long as I was forever losing the little lumps in the fire!
Now I just stick burning wood on the top. It can be a bit precarious and I need to swap them around as the logs on the top tend to go out. These regular sized, little logs with their holes to help them burn, work well for balancing on top.
L
There are lots of rules these days, and we’re trying our best to stick to them… but as far as we could tell there’s no rule stopping two goats sitting by a fire in a garden eating some fire food!
Last night it wasn’t raining, so we enjoyed a relaxed evening looking at the fire and eating. Not only were we the regulation 2m apart – we had a smoke screen between us from the fire.
We tried out a new recipe – coconut vegetable curry. It passed the test of being easy to cook on the fire and also tasty, so that will be added to our camping repertoire! Hopefully not too much longer now ?!?!
L & R
Sadly we can’t go camping yet.
(Well not anywhere other than our own gardens … and I’m afraid my garden isn’t exciting enough to be worth the effort!!)
… but I have started getting in training! I put this up in 15 mins – all by myself!!!
Super fast inflatable gazebo!
I can assure you that Snoopy dog was no help at all… he only came out afterwards to inspect my work!
Tomorrow morning my neighbour is hosting a socially distanced prayer meeting in her garden… and there’s a chance of rain. Hopefully now it will be able to go ahead whatever the weather!!
It did make me nostalgic for camping trips… hopefully not long now.
L
PS you can read our review of our much loved inflatable gazebo & the other gazebos in our lives here
Embrace your inner goat 